


A Hero's Respite

by TheThirteenthHour



Series: Memorable: A Collection of Short Zelink Works [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Emotional Intimacy, F/M, Forehead Touching, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Tenderness, Vulnerability, don't mind me I'm just crying over these two, tagged / and & because you can read it either way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-10 22:51:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20143303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThirteenthHour/pseuds/TheThirteenthHour
Summary: The Malice lifts. The sky clears.The only thing that brings Zelda calm is the knowledge that her knight is alive and with her once again.





	A Hero's Respite

The sky is blue when Link collapses in Hyrule Field.

His name runs from Zelda’s lungs faster than her breath can carry it. He’s beside her when he falls, the Master Sword still gripped in his right hand like he’s expecting Calamity Ganon to rise from the grass, to see wisps of red and black fluttering on the wind like flower petals.

She barely catches him, one arm braced under a body of lithe muscle, the other slipped quickly but carefully between his back and his weapons—a shield, a scabbard, a bow, an arsenal strapped to a single, deadly young man who can no longer keep himself on his own feet. Hyrule's hero and most powerful warrior.

The knight she failed to protect one hundred years ago.

She falls to her knees along with him.

The remains of Hyrule Castle loom over their backs, no longer shrouded by Malice. But her soul searches for it, her hostile companion for the past century. She can’t tell if the twist in her stomach is paranoia, or trauma, or recognition of the lingering remnants of an evil she can’t see.

The sky is blue.

“Link?” His name rattles her chest and tumbles past her lips. She braces her hand against him and lifts his chin. His eyes are foggy. His gaze, distant. “Link! Link, what’s wrong?”

He sighs. He rests his weight against her. He doesn’t let go of the Master Sword.

“Link?”

She refuses to cry, but her voice shakes.

Maybe that is why he whispers, “Tired.”

The sound that escapes her is caught between a sob and a laugh—bubbling nerves, instinct telling her they need to get up, to run, but nothing red creeps into her vision. There is no orange on them, no eyes. Only the blue sigil of the Sheikah on his slate.

She cradles his head and guides him to rest on her shoulder. A hundred years of sleep couldn’t drain all the exhaustion in his bones, but a moment here—

—in the open, in a field they know is littered with the corpses of Guardians, where Malice rose from the earth like weeds—

The castle is still. The sky is blue.

They can spare a moment here.

It takes two breaths before he melts against her, tense muscles finally going lax in her hold. His grip on the Master Sword is the only thing that doesn’t fully give, and she can’t leave it alone.

She takes his hand in hers. She brushes over every knuckle, over the leather protecting his wrist, and gently pries his fingers apart. “It’s okay,” she whispers, though her heart thuds. Her ears listen for the whir and charge of a Guardian. “It’s okay…”

His breath quickens for a moment.

But he relents.

The Master Sword falls into her hands with a whisper of gratitude that belongs to Link as much as it belongs to the Sword.

“You don’t need to fight right now,” she says.

Link sighs. The blade glints blue in the light.

She’s hardly laid the Sword in the grass when he tenses again. He curls against her and buries his fists in the soil and fabric of her dress, wasted prayers spilling over his knuckles. He presses his face into the bare curve of her shoulder so closely, wound so tightly, she almost doesn’t feel him crying.

She cracks.

She can’t lose what little is left of her composure here. Not when he’s drained. Not when the Master Sword is resting. She wraps herself around him, one arm tucked under his weapons, the other hand clenched in his hair, her body turned toward him to shield him from anything that might find them.

The sky is blue. The castle is still. Nothing stalks across the field or seeps from the earth. Nothing burbles. Nothing watches.

She shudders. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t—” Her tears spill. “You’ve spent all this time on your own because I couldn’t—”

He shakes his head.

“Urbosa and Mipha and Daruk and Rivali, even my father, if I had just—”

He hushes her.

She listens.

He cups her cheek and presses his thumb to her lips, because he knows her compliance will only last so long.

His touch is as soft as flower petals.

He doesn’t say anything more. He guides her to his forehead, and caresses her as they cry.

Nothing but a clear sky watches over them. Not the breeze, nor any roaming creature, nor a single shred of Malice leaking from the castle. The Master Sword is quiet beside them.

She shuts out the world and greedily loses herself in Link’s presence. He is solid in her hold, one strong arm wrapped around her back, his other hand still holding her close for comfort, sturdy but gentle all the same. He smells of dirt and sweat and metal, and he grounds her.

How strange it is to think that there was ever a time when she wouldn’t give her life for him.

She sniffs and wipes her eyes, careful not to draw his hand away from her cheek. “Are you hurt?” she asks, inspecting his face. She knows he’s wounded, but she needs to verbalize her worry any way she can. There are shallow scratches on his cheek, a bruise beginning to form on his jaw, one cut above a bright blue eye that looks back at her like she shouldn’t be the one asking.

She always did get the sense he wanted to dote on her.

She smiles and says softly, “Don’t give me that look.” She tucks his hair behind his ear. It’s shaggy and wild, torn loose from its usual place tethered to the nape of his neck. She should teach him how to braid it and tie it back more effectively one day. “You’ve suffered through the most exhaustive battles of your life… I’m allowed to worry about you.”

He brushes his thumb from one corner of her mouth to the other and gently tugs her lips upward. His own expression softens into a smile she’s never seen on him before.

It makes her heart skip a beat. “W-what?”

“I wanted to see you smile again…”

His words are an oasis.

She smiles, not because he asked, but because something loosens inside her. A weight lifts from her chest, and she can laugh. She breathes. In spite of everything, he is alive. Her knight is alive and with her, and the sudden realization sends tears spilling over her cheeks again.

“That’s not smiling,” he teases, wiping his thumbs over her face.

She laughs through her sobs and wonders how badly he must feel to see her like this, to choose to be so verbal.

“That’s not what I fought for,” he adds.

“No?” She means to say it lightly, but the word comes out strangled. “What did you fight for?”

He cradles the back of her head and touches their foreheads together. His eyes are shut. His breath tickles her face. He doesn’t answer aloud.

She smiles. She places her fingers between his, presses the dips between his knuckles, trails the rips in his sleeves up to his shoulders. His hair is a knotted mess. She can feel the layer of grime and sweat on his neck.

She’s careful when she touches his face. Light as petals. Silent princesses swaying in the breeze.

She shuts her eyes and calms. “I fought for you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yesterday I came across [this post translating how Link feels about Zelda in the Japanese version](https://munettie.tumblr.com/post/164831264085/%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%93%E3%81%8B%E6%89%80%E3%81%AE%E6%80%9D%E3%81%84%E5%87%BA%E3%81%AE%E5%9C%B0%E3%82%92%E5%B7%A1%E3%82%8A%E3%82%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%80%E5%A7%AB%E3%81%AE%E6%83%B3%E3%81%84%E3%82%92%E5%8F%97%E3%81%91%E5%8F%96%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F-i-have-visited-and), and that "I wish to see her smiling once more" just got to me... (Edit: The original link is broken u_u Leaving it for posterity's sake, but the same info can be found in [this Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comments/6wul04/til_link_writes_his_own_diarycomments_in_botw/).)
> 
> I love these two.
> 
> If you want more, the next fic in this series, [Restlessness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20498108), is a direct continuation of this one!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Want to reblog or retweet? Find [the tumblr post](https://write-nonsense-by-the-ream.tumblr.com/post/186827949273/the-sky-is-blue-link-his-name-rattles-her) and [the tweet here](https://twitter.com/thirteenthhr/status/1158908500564746240).
> 
> Want to leave a comment but don't know what to say? Drop some emojis!  
\- 💕 - Extra kudos!  
\- 😍 - I loved this!  
\- 😭 - I'm crying in the club...  
\- 💌 - Thanks for sharing!
> 
> [ I also welcome short/long comments, questions, concrit, and reader-reader interaction!](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject)


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